you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 10 points 10 months ago* (8 children)

Internet Pedantry Alert!

If it's what you're thinking of and it probably is, the OG "bubble car" was the BMW Isetta and I'm afraid the scenario outlined above is a myth that was promulgated by Top Gear. The Isetta does indeed have a reverse gear, because even ze Bavarians were smart enough to think of that. Yes, this is also the car that Steve Urkel drove.

What's true is that in the immediate postwar years, quite a lot of other lesser European microcars hit the streets which were built around largely as-is motorbike drivetrains which didn't have reverse. Vanishingly few of these did not have side opening doors, though, with some strange exceptions.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 8 child comments
  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago* (7 children)

    Got me wondering: did they not even have Neutral?

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 7 child comments
  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago (6 children)

    They do. They also have a manual clutch.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 6 child comments
  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (5 children)

    "Help, I'm stuck because I'm too weak to push a vehicle that weights nothing away from the wall!!"

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 5 child comments
  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago (4 children)

    You could also just open the door into the obstacle and push if you were really hard up, with the understanding that you may mar the paint on the door edge.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago (3 children)

    That's actually what I was getting at.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago (2 children)

    Ah. I was thinking one hand out the window, like James was trying to accomplish. Either/or.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments